About Terraforming

Transforming Mars will be a long and complicated process. But this is
exactly the type of subject that interests space researchers like
Christopher McKay of NASA Ames Research Center. First, greenhouse
gases, like chlorofluorocarbons that contribute to the growing
ozone layer on Earth, will be
released into the atmosphere. This traps the heat from the Sun and raises
the surface temperature by an average of 4 degrees Celsius. In order
to achieve this, factories would manufacture chlorofluorocarbons derived
from the air and soil. A single factory would require the power
equivalent of a large
nuclear power plant.

The increasing temperature would vaporize some of the carbon dioxide in the
south polar cap. Introducing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would
produce additional warming, melting more of the polar cap until it has
been vaporized completely. This would produce an average temperature rise
of 70 degrees Celsius.

With the temperature this high, ice will start melting, providing the
water
needed to sustain life. This water would raise the atmospheric pressure
to the equivalent of some mountaintops. While this would be a survivable level,
it
may still require the use of an oxygen mask. The next step, which may take
up to several centuries, would be to
plant trees that thrive on carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.